SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT: How the BC Athletics Wall of Honor was created and continues to flourish

If he was still with us, the late Henry “Coach Harry” Grady Deal, Jr., a graduate of the Benedictine Military School Class of 1945, would be immensely proud of the Benedictine Military School Athletics Wall of Honor.

The BC Athletics Wall of Honor is a project that Deal established in 2003 to recognize former BC student-athletes who continued their athletic endeavors at the collegiate and professional level, as well as men who coached at Benedictine. Thanks to BC alumni, Deal’s legacy continues.

The BC Athletics Wall of Honor is a visible representation of the preservation of the school’s history. There are 246 honorees whose framed photographs grace the lobby walls inside BC Gym. On Oct. 23, 2021, there were 41 new inductees added to BC’s Athletics Wall of Honor during an induction ceremony in BC Cafeteria. The previous induction ceremony was held in 2018. The next induction ceremony will take place in 2024, inducting the BC Classes of 2016-18.

Deal, a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army, was a 1945 graduate of Benedictine Military School. He was a loved and respected volunteer at BC since 1951, so much so that he was inducted into the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame in May 1987 for appreciation for his outstanding service rendered to the advancement of sports in the Savannah area.

Deal, who retired from the Savannah Fire Department, was a fixture at BC. Following Deal’s death on June 3, 2009, at age 84, Lynn Fogarty, a graduate of the BC Class of 1980, sought to continue the Wall of Honor project that Deal established.

“It wasn’t my original idea,” Fogarty said. “It started back in 2003 with a gentleman named Coach Harry Deal. I don’t know if he ever worked full-time for the school but I know he was a coach for the school. He filled in when teachers were out sick; that kind of thing. He was a very loyal alumni to the school. I assume it was him just by himself, I haven’t had anybody else come up to me and say anything, but I assume (the BC Athletics Wall of Honor) was his brainchild.

“We were finishing up (creating) Alumni Hall and I would go over to the gym every now and then, and they had those pictures in the gym going down to the weight room, in that hallway,” Fogarty continued. “And I was like, ‘What the heck is this doing here?’ A couple of pictures were broken. The students didn’t know what it was about. They’re high school kids. They ignore that stuff. So I came up with an idea of moving it from there to a prominent spot in the school. Didn’t really have a big gameplan there but it seemed like the natural place to be was right there where we put it, which is in the lobby of the gym, because we have the basketball games there, there are other functions there, so we thought it would be a good idea to move it there.”

Fogarty enlisted the help of BC alumni Mike Dillon ’68, Maurice “Mutt” Sheppard ’59, and Marc Friedman ’83.

“I asked Mike Dillon, of course, to partner up with me and help me out with it because he’s really good about stuff like that and has really good insight and input,” Fogarty said. “And ‘Mutt’ Sheppard, honestly, I know we couldn’t have completed those composites in Alumni Hall without ‘Mutt’ Sheppard doing his due diligence and digging through newspaper articles, and everything and anything, and finding all of those pictures for us. Because we were really worried about that. So I knew Mutt could do some digging for us, especially for the older guys, the history. And the other gentleman is Marc Friedman. Marc was one of the ones (whose photograph) went on the wall when we did that first big induction three years ago. I mentioned something to him about it and he said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to help out with that.’ So the four of us were the core, the committee, and we brainstormed a little bit and threw things together.”

Fogarty, Dillon, Sheppard, and Friedman established criteria for induction. To qualify for induction, a candidate must be a Benedictine graduate, have been awarded a varsity letter at a four-year college/university, and/or have achieved success in amateur or professional athletics.

“We don’t know if there were any criteria set initially but we figured let’s make it concrete,” Fogarty said. “That way, when somebody qualifies, they’re on no matter what. We don’t have to worry about it. It’s not a judgment thing where we vote on it. Take that completely out of the picture. So we came up with that part of it. We presented it to (BC Headmaster) Father (Frank Ziemkiewicz, O.S.B.) and asked him if we would be able to do this and showcase the athletics side of the school now that we’ve got Alumni Hall done.

“He did say he was fine with it, and for us to come back to him when we figured out the design and cost of it,” Fogarty continued. “I had already gone to both the Athletic Association and the Alumni Association and said, ‘I need y’all to partner up on this one. We need financial (assistance) from you guys for certain things.’ Hopefully, it’s an event down the road that will be a partnership between the Alumni Association and the Athletic Association. Back in 2018, we did what we thought was a good job but, obviously, we missed some of the inductees. We caught most of the guys up to the year 2012. Now we’ve got it set for every three years.

The Oct. 23 induction ceremony featured 17 graduates from the BC Classes of 2013-15.

“Obviously, we had missed some of those guys (in 2018) so we got that caught up,” Fogarty said. “We’ll do another induction in 2024. Now we can really start tracking these guys from the time they leave the school so we’re not trying to find them. We can get pictures from them. We’ll be ready when the time comes, and they qualify. All we need to do is send out invitations. Now that we’re getting these younger guys, since it is a modern world, when we learn that they’ve lettered at a (college), we can get a photograph right then.

“And Mutt, like I said, he found all these guys that we didn’t know anything about. He knew some of these guys just from growing up. He knew the names. He does a lot of research. He’s written a couple of books, so he knows how to find that information. We put the word of mouth out as well.”

Dillon said he has no doubt that Deal would have approved of Fogarty’s idea to move the photographs to display in a more prominent location.

“Lynn chaired this event and began the revival of the Wall of Honor a few years ago, after we mostly completed Alumni Hall,” Dillon said. “This is his baby. The original Wall was located in the hall of the athletic building. It was a terrible location that was subject to damage and no exposure to the public. Lynn had the idea to move it to the lobby of the gym. But before we jumped on this project, we wanted buy-in from the school, so we approached Fr. Frank and asked if he thought it was a worthwhile project. We presented the idea that worked for Alumni Hall: it would be another way to get more alumni involved in the school and back on the campus. Obviously, Father approved the project, and we were off to the races. We give lots of credit to Maurice Sheppard for his countless hours of research on the classes from 1902-59. He was our MVP.

“I think the importance of the Wall is highlighting the diversity of our school,” Dillon continued. “I’m always preaching that BC is a multidimensional school, much more than just football. The Class of 2021 proved that point better than I could. We promote the variety of activities, clubs, sports that are available to our students. The Wall is testimony to that fact regarding athletics: 18 different sports represented, 59 universities. Equally as important, the Wall, hopefully, serves as an inspiration to our current students to work hard and achieve their place on the Wall one day in the future.”

Nick Wright ’10 is one of those students who used the BC Athletics Wall of Honor as motivation when he was a Cadet. He was inducted during the Oct. 23 ceremony.

“Right after I won my first wrestle-off ever, I took a peek at the Wall of Honor and wondered just how far we’d go with this new wrestling thing,” said Wright, who earned a wrestling scholarship to and graduated from Mercer University. “I’m happy to report we’re still going! I’m so proud to be a part of school history. It was great to have my family attend the ceremony, and to meet and catch up with old friends and teammates. It’s always interesting swapping stories because, while the experiences differ, you can be sure that athletics at BC has consistently led to unexpected levels of friendship, support, and achievement.

“The really cool thing is that once an individual or team gets that first achievement or reaches that first goal, it sets the tone for those to follow,” Wright continued. “That is why the Wall of Honor is so special to me. I want that next scrawny, out-of-place, freshman Cadet to look up at my picture and say to himself, ‘I can be that.’ The truth is, with a high level of commitment and a strong support base, they can be more.”

BC Director of Alumni Engagement Dustin White ’14, who was inducted Oct. 23, said the way Fogarty, Dillon, Sheppard, and Friedman picked up where Deal left off is a testament to the BC brotherhood.

“The Wall of Honor is a unique project that recognizes those individuals who took what they learned at BC onto the next level,” White said. “It was humbling to not only get onto the Wall but to be able to work alongside Lynn Fogarty ’80, Mike Dillon ’68, Marc Friedman ’83, and Mutt Sheppard ’59. The efforts those gentlemen go through to identify and then verify BC alumni who deserve this honor is remarkable. It will forever be a piece of BC history that displays more than 240 Cadets, and counting, who seized their opportunities while at Benedictine and took their talents on to different college and universities.”

BC ATHLETICS WALL OF HONOR FACTS
Total Honorees: 246
Colleges/Universities Represented: 59
Most Number of Athletes: University of Georgia (37); Armstrong State (36); Georgia Tech (15); Georgia Southern (13).
Number of Sports: 18 (Football - 102; Baseball - 47; Basketball - 22; Golf - 20; Soccer - 16; Swimming - 7; Track and Field - 6; Wrestling - 5; Professional Baseball - 4; Lacrosse - 4; Tennis - 3; Cross Country - 2; Weightlifting - 2; Softball - 2; Rifle Team - 1; Cycling - 1; Auto Racing - 1; Amateur Golf – 1.
Classes With The Most Honorees: 1980 – 11; 1979, 1997, 2014 – 9.
Father And Son Honorees: 6 (John ’33 and Jack ’60 Thompson; Tom ’46 and Jimmy ’72 Coleman; Eddie II ’48 and Eddie III ’71 Whelan; Howard ’50 and Michael ’76 Cohen; Tom ’54 and Tim ’89 Mahoney; Charlie ’55 and Chuck ’79 Moore).
Grandfather, Son, Grandson Honorees: Dotson (J. Eugene, Sr. ’50; J. Eugene, Jr. ’72; J. Eugene III ’98).
Three Brothers Honorees: Herb (Leonard ’57; Denny ’61; Joe ’70); Cannon (Tommy ’65; Bobby ’65; Jimmy ’71).
First Honoree: Joseph Logan (BC Class of 1910; football at Georgia Tech; coached by John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman Trophy).

2015, CONNOR DEWITT, WEST POINT, LACROSSE
2015, JOSEPH HOLGUIN, STETSON UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2015, CHANCE JAKCSON, STETSON UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2015, AL PESTO, DUKE UNIVERSITY, BASEBALL
2015, STEVIE POWERS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI, BASEBALL
2015, ZACH SCOTT, FURMAN UNIVERSITY, LACROSSE
2015, BRAD STEWART, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, FOOTBALL
2014, ELLISON BURNS, SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2014, LIAM CUNNINGHAM, YOUNG HARRIS COLLEGE, LACROSSE
2014, SEAN FOGARTY, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, FOOTBALL
2014, CONRAD FONSECA, STETSON UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2014, SAM GEHA, ELON UNIVERSITY, CROSS COUNTRY
2014, TRISTAN HARKLEROAD, THE CITADEL, FOOTBALL
2014, MIKE HUGGINS, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BASEBALL
2014, MILES McGINTY, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, FOOTBALL
2014, DUSTIN WHITE, MERCER UNIVERSITY, LACROSSE
2013, THOMAS McCARTHY, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY, SOCCER
2011, LUKE BOYD, MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2011, JEFFREY HOLMES, MERCER UNIVERSITY, WRESTLING
2011, DERRICK SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, SWIMMING
2010, JIBRI BRYAN, MERCER UNIVERSITY, BASKETBALL
2010, DANIEL COURSEY, MERCER UNIVERSITY, BASKETBALL
2010, RYAN SALMON, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SWIMMING
2010, CINNEGAR WHITE, MERCER UNIVERSITY, WRESTLING
2010, NICK WRIGHT, MERCER UNIVERSITY, WRESTLING
2009, TREVOR STEVERSON, BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE, WRESTLING
2008, RYAN GREGORY, BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE, WRESTLING
2008, SHANE SUMMERLIN, BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE, WRESTLING
2007, BRENDAN GILLINS, AUGUSTA STATE UNIVERSITY, GOLF
2007, MICHAEL JOHNSON, SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY, FOOTBALL
2007, MICHAEL PATTON, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA, BASEBALL
1983, CHRISTOPHER ALIFFI, ARMSTRONG STATE COLLEGE, SOCCER
1983, SEAN COUGHLIN, ARMSTRONG STATE COLLEGE, SOCCER
1983, SCOTT CRYMES, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, CROSS COUNTRY
1983, KEVIN KREIDE, ARMSTRONG STATE COLLEGE, SOCCER
1983, ALOYSIUS ZEALY, ARMSTRONG STATE COLLEGE, SOCCER
1971, EDDIE WHELAN III, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, GOLF
1958, COL. JOHN CLANCY, THE CITADEL, FOOTBALL
1951, TOMMY CUPSTID, GREATER SAVANNAH ATHLETIC HOF, SOFTBALL
1948, EDDIE WHELAN II, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, FOOTBALL
1947, LAWRENCE CONNEFF, ARMSTRONG STATE COLLEGE, BASKETBALL